F*ck... In that instant, upon hearing the old man's reply, Klein's mind was consumed entirely by a single curse word, with no other thought able to surface.
Zaratul. The leader of the Secret Order. A descendant of the great nobles of the Fourth Era's Solomon Empire. The previous owner of the Antigonus family's notes. The guide on Emperor Roselle's Beyonder path. The true high-Sequence Beyonder of the "Seer" pathway. A hidden existence who had already become a "Miracle Invoker" one or two hundred years ago. An Angel who, according to the "Magic Mirror" Arrodes, had lost control and become a monster during his advancement to Sequence 1, the "Attendant of Mysteries"!
Every single one of these descriptions represented something currently beyond Klein's ability to bear. It gave him both the shock of a figure from a history textbook stepping out of the pages and appearing before him in the flesh, and the sensation that the surrounding air had turned solid, layer upon layer piling onto his body, compressing his frame and blocking his breathing.
Klein had once theorized that everything he had experienced, including transmigrating here, might stem from Zaratul's machinations—suspecting that he was the final boss he would eventually have to face. And now, he had run into him, ahead of schedule.
I'm only a Sequence 5! Klein couldn't help but scream inwardly, while simultaneously doubting whether this was truly Zaratul.
Zaratul was a surname, representing the great nobles of the Fourth Era's Solomon Empire. Theoretically, over two thousand years of history, there should have been multiple Zaratuls... Perhaps this was the grandfather, father, brother, or descendant of the Secret Order's leader mentioned in Roselle's notes... Moreover, the old man had said that he himself had been dead for many years, yet both the "Magic Mirror" Arrodes and the "Mercury Serpent" Will Auceptin had confirmed that the Secret Order's leader Zaratul was still alive—merely having lost control and become a monster, driven to extreme madness... Klein first tried to convince himself that things might not be as bad as he imagined, which quickly calmed his emotions and gave him the capacity for more detailed thought:
The Beyonder powers this Zaratul had displayed seemed limited in number, but each one defied common sense—those related to history and fate especially so... He was far more than just a "Faceless." Perhaps even Sequence 3, or even Sequence 2. And the number of Angels within any single pathway had never been large...
This place was closely connected to the "Night Kingdom" that had vanished from the main peak of the Hornacis mountain range, and there existed the incoherent mutterings that could reach the ears of mid- and low-Sequence Beyonders of the "Seer" pathway... After the Secret Order's leader Zaratul obtained the Antigonus family's notes through Emperor Roselle, he had appeared less and less frequently. No one knew what he was plotting. Could this mean that, following the notes, he had come to the main peak of the Hornacis mountain range to search for the treasures left behind by the Antigonus family, obtaining the Sequence 1 "Attendant of Mysteries" potion formula and its corresponding materials?
In the world of mysticism, a chain of coincidences often meant there was a problem—meant that something was certain...
If this truly was that Zaratul, then having a "self" split off and exist within Fog Town—could that have been the cause of his eventual loss of control and descent into madness?
As for the matter of having "died long ago," there was an even more straightforward explanation. The Secret Order's leader Zaratul himself had once said:
What is a miracle? Resurrection from the dead is a miracle!
And he himself had long since become a "Miracle Invoker"!
While Klein's thoughts churned, the white-bearded old man who called himself Zaratul chuckled:
"Judging by your reaction, you recognize me?"
Klein shifted his thoughts and said tentatively:
"I've heard of this surname.
"I once met the 'Mystery Queen' and learned about the Secret Order and its leader from her."
The old man gave a slight nod, neither confirming nor denying. He smiled and asked vaguely:
"What else do you need help with?"
Help... Klein recalled the Beyonder powers the old man had displayed, hesitated for a moment, and then said:
"Can you summon a fish from outside—from within the history of this hidden world? One that has already become food would also do."
In his view, this was not impossible. After all, many of the outsiders who had previously entered the town came from the ruins of the divine wars at the easternmost end of the Sonia Sea. Perhaps some fish had been raised and brought in there, serving both as stored food and as a means of observing environmental changes, only to disappear at night when the person failed to fall asleep. Or perhaps some explorer had just eaten their fill of fish meat and then encountered the night, failing to fall asleep before it struck. In that case, the history of Fog Town containing fish from the outside world was not incomprehensible.
Zaratul raised his head and looked twice at Klein, who was dressed as Gehrman Sparrow, and for a brief moment did not provide an answer.
Several seconds later, he leveled his gaze and said in a muffled voice:
"I can."
The words had barely left his lips when a ball of crushed, reconstituted fish meat appeared in the hands of "Blood Admiral" Senier.
"It will only last three quarters of an hour. When it ends, it will be as though you never ate it," Zaratul added.
It actually works... Klein found the high-Sequence abilities of the "Seer" pathway all the more eerie and terrifying.
He had intended to say he needed no further help, but then he thought about how Zaratul was a universally recognized cunning existence—everything he said and did deserved a question mark—and felt he should put on an act.
As thoughts flickered through his mind, Klein decided to show a degree of greed, to lower Zaratul's opinion of him and make him believe he could be easily manipulated.
After having his marionette put away the fish meat, his eyes shifted twice, and he inhaled almost imperceptibly:
"I also need the potion formula for the 'Faceless' pathway."
Zaratul's posture didn't change. He was silent for a few seconds, then chuckled:
"No problem, as long as you're willing to believe that what I give you is a genuine formula.
"When you retrieve that piece of obsidian, I'll hand you the 'Faceless' potion formula along with the 'Open the Door' symbol.
"Sigh. To me, these are trivial matters. As long as you can scatter my ashes back into the river of my homeland."
Klein listened quietly, then couldn't help but ask:
"Your status is undoubtedly very high. If your ashes were simply scattered like that, you would pollute the entire river and create countless monsters."